Alex McCord: “Our Family Is Complete With 2 Kids”

The Real Housewives of New York City star Alex McCord and husband Simon van Kempen love working together! The couple co-wrote Little Kids, Big City, a “memoir of the first six years of being parents in New York City.” Now the couple is launching Aluxe™ Home, a “line of 100% Egyptian cotton sheets and towels.”

As proud mom to sons François and Johan, Alex opens up to Celebrity Baby Scoop about her “chums” who are into piano and karate, her “complete” family-of-four, and her passion to support charities, even in the face of drama: “[I'm attending] along with LuAnn de Lesseps so we are putting aside our Housewives differences to support Breast Cancer survivors in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.”CBS: How are your boys, François and Johan? What are they into?

AM: The chums are just about to have their birthdays in a few weeks — François will be 8 and Johan will turn 6. They are loving school, piano (François can play Fur Elise now) and karate!

CBS: Have you ever wanted to try for a girl? Are you still considering it?

AM: “Our family is complete with 2 kids — Simon and I both agreed that we did not want to be outnumbered! I’ve also always been happy as a mom of boys. I’ve never been a girlie girl myself, so am completely happy making mud pies and playing lemon baseball in the backyard.”

CBS: Tell us about partnering with your hubby and others for Aluxe Home. What are the products and how can we view/purchase them?

AM: “I had wanted to do a home line for years, and Simon jumped on board with that completely — we do everything as a team. After several potential deals that didn’t go through, we decided that going into partnership with a factory was a really good bet. We’ve known our NY partners for 10 years, and they’ve known the factory owner for 30 years. These are long-standing relationships and we all realized that we wanted the same thing, so it made sense. We have just begun marketing our line of 100% Egyptian cotton sheets and towels to retailers, and look forward to sharing where to buy with you soon.”

CBS: What inspired you to create this line?

AM: “As we raise our boys, we noticed that there’s a demand in the marketplace for something in between the scratchy cartoon character sheets and the very specific looks you find at a Pottery Barn Kids, etc. When the boys graduated to twin beds, I bought solid stripe 100% cotton sheets in every color I could find, and mix and match them depending on the kids’ moods. We do the same with our own bed, and that prompted us to do a large door palette of solids that anyone can mix and match.

Whether it’s sheets, towels or toothbrushes, at our house we like to express ourselves through color. In the bathroom, the gray towels are mine, the green ones are
Simon’s, and the chums like to mix things up — one week they’ll do burgundy, or grab a crazy-looking beach towel, or whatever they feel like at the time. It’s all about choices, and if you have a fairly neutral bathroom design, towels are a great way to add color. But for those who love the monochromatic look (as our business partner does!) we do white and cream as well.”

CBS: Tell us about your book, Little Kids, Big City. What is the book about and what inspired you to write it?

AM: “Little Kids, Big City is probably best described as a mom-oir or dad-oir — a memoir of the first six years of being parents in New York City. Simon and I went from being adamant that we would never have kids, to changing our minds and embracing parenthood (and luckily that happened before our first child arrived!) The book is a he-said, she-said rant about all the things that aren’t in the ‘how to have a baby’ handbook, if there is such a thing.”

CBS: Do you have any upcoming charity endeavors?

AM: “This Friday October 14th, Simon and I are hosting Sing For the Cause, along with LuAnn de Lesseps so we are putting aside our Housewives differences to support Breast Cancer survivors in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Guests will enjoy a three course dinner with open bar, and have the opportunity
to compete for a $1,000 karaoke prize, along with many other goodies and VIP gift
bags. To purchase tickets, click here.

We are proud to be on the host committee for the Orphaned Starfish Foundation Gala this October 18th. This amazing charity brings so much change to orphans around the world, but particularly in Latin America. For these young kids, who for whatever reason were dealt a rough hand at birth, have the opportunity through programs funded by OSF to learn essential computer skills to help them survive and indeed prosper in our 21st Century world.

On October 18th in New York City, Plaxico Burress and Nick Folk from the NY Jets, Harry Carson, Hall of Famer from the New York Giants, DMC of Run-DMC will join us as well as Pras Michel of the Fugees and Cucu Diamontes & Yerba Buena who are both performing. For more info on OSF or to purchase tickets, please click here.

Also, on October 23rd the whole family will participate in the Walk to End Alzheimers for the Alzheimers Association. This is a cause particularly close to Alex’s heart as her father suffered from Alzheimers. For more info or to join a walk in your area, click here.”

Great article, it hits on some great points…their inspiration, taking the high road, charity events, etc.! I just love this family! They are so open and honest about everything from A to Z. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for them as they are enjoying their everyday lives!

EMMA (FROM UK)

I Totally agree. Im from the uk. I love Alex & Simon too.
They are so real & genuine. Great role models for the chums. And both have great fashion sense.

Loe them both.

Cadence Michaels

I loved Alex on RHONY and was sad when she was let go. I agree that two is definitely enough since they are both busy with their business and causes and probably wouldn’t have time for more children..